


I had fallen for you

by markbumficfest, ygstan_ahgase



Series: Markbum Fic Exchange 2018 [8]
Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Eskimo Kisses, Long-Term Crushes, M/M, No Smut, Pining, Sexual Themes, Soft Kisses, the other relationships are basically just in mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 06:23:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17299415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markbumficfest/pseuds/markbumficfest, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ygstan_ahgase/pseuds/ygstan_ahgase
Summary: Jaebum pinning for Mark, his roommate who is apparently straight, and they bond one night when they spend that night talking about life.





	I had fallen for you

**Author's Note:**

> for everyone
> 
> full fanart: here  
> \-----
> 
> Author's note: This is the most cliché fic I had written in my life—also my first college AU though I read a lot on this trope :D so please go easy on me. There are lame comedy attempts but I am certain they’re all shitty and, well, lame, LOL. I hope I had given the “pining” part justice because I haven’t written much about it either.
> 
> Artist's note: not to be me or anything, but *goes down on one knee* ily. i knew the minute i finished reading, there was no way i could do it justice. i drew a ton of fanart for this fic, but the scene i ended up choosing was the one i drew. it kind of broke me as a person and i was like "omfg this author? owns my a$$" anyway, after this, i hope you'll let me give you the rest of fanart i made. ily and i would die for you.

“No classes today, Jaebeom-ah?”

Jaebeom looks up from where he’s typing something on his laptop, an essay for his English class that he has been working on since last night.  He was supposed to finish it the same night but his Mom chose the perfect time to send a video of Nora playing with the cat ball he purchased for her last summer.  He spent the rest of the night replaying the video until he fell asleep, the assignment that is due in three days completely forgotten.

Jaebeom gulps nervously as he sees his roommate, a fellow senior student Mark Tuan, clad in a loose sleeveless shirt that showcases his gorgeously cut biceps as he dries his hair using a small towel, and the brunette coughs so that the strain in his voice won’t show as he goes back to staring at the blinking vertical line on the open Word document on his laptop.

“This afternoon.”  He answers timidly, as always, especially in front of the older male.  Well, not so much older, to be honest, he is not even required to call Mark _hyung_ since he was born in January, so in Korean age system, they fall under the same age bracket.  However, Jaebeom cannot help but feel a whole lot younger whenever he is with Mark.  The LA-native boy always has his way to make Jaebeom feel a little intimidated, even after two years of knowing each other and living in the same dorm room.

Mark and Jaebeom had been roommates since the beginning of the second semester of their sophomore year—and it’s the last semester of their senior year, but Jaebeom feels like he still does not know much about the older boy.  They haven’t really talked a lot during the past two years they’ve known each other, and he thinks that it might be because their dorm is not like those typical studio rooms at other universities.  Theirs, and the entire dorm building, basically, had two small rooms (three for some) where you can only fit a small bed, a nightstand, and a small closet, at least they still have their own private space.  Outside is a small living room and an even smaller dining area and a veranda.

They also have different set of friends, being in two different majors and interests in activities outside studies, so maybe, on top of the whole dorm situation thing, explains why they rarely talk or even establish a deeper friendship of some sort, even if Jaebeom wanted to.

“Ah… So you’re up early because?”  Mark asks casually as he hangs the towel at the small veranda of their cramped dorm space, and Jaebeom tries his hardest not to look back as he feels the elder’s presence behind him, the scent of his musky shampoo, his lemon body wash that sticks to his skin even after a long day at the university, joggling between basketball practices and classes, which is now overwhelming since, well, he just got out of the shower so the smell is still prominent, and Jaebeom can feel it penetrate in his own skin as the older emerges at the living room now combing his hair.

“I wasn’t able to finish my assignment last night, so I decided to continue it this morning.  I am not even half-way done and it’s due on Friday.”  He laughs before _pretending_ to type something because the older didn’t tear his gaze away from him as he speaks.  The blush that he can feel creeping up from his neck to his cheeks will slowly be noticeable if the jock wouldn’t stop looking at him about _now,_ or maybe stop stretching his arms too while he is looking at him so that the blush will not be accompanied by _something else_ that would make his sweatpants uncomfortably tight.

To Jaebeom’s relief, Mark pulls his gaze away before humming as a response to what he said, grabbing his bomber jacket (the purple pastel one, which looks absolutely _fine_ on him) and putting it on swiftly, before taking his bag from his room and waving Jaebeom good bye.

“Oh, by the way—” Mark stops before he can even go out the door.  Jaebeom cranes his neck to look at him and waits for him to continue, “There is a victory party at Jackson’s house this Friday night… To celebrate our win against Yonsei… would you like to come?”

Jaebeom just stares at the older, well, this is not the first time that he gets invited to a party, but he cannot remember an incident when Mark invites him directly, it is mostly Jackson or Yugyeom who does it, that’s why he can easily refuse those invites.  But now that Mark invites him directly…

“I don’t really do parties—”

“Well now is the time to be at one, don’t you think?  I haven’t seen you in one in those years.  It’s a party to celebrate _my achievement_ since the three-point shot I threw made us win…”  Mark says confidently and Jaebeom just stares at him, too lost on how Mark looks so fine in just a bomber jacket, jeans, and slightly wet and ruffled hair.  He is honestly so screwed.

“Silence means yes, aye?  I’ll see you there!  Don’t forget to bring the others too!”  Mark giggles before shutting the door close, leaving the brunette with mouth still agape, brain malfunctioning as he processes what Mark had said.

When he finally came to himself, he just realized one thing.

Yeah… Definitely screwed, indeed.

 

~*~

 

“So…”  Jinyoung starts as he drops a bottle of strawberry milk in front of Jaebeom while he sits on the chair in front of him.  Jaebeom didn’t tear his gaze away from his notes—organizing the scrambled letters and signs while avoiding the doodles of Mark’s name in Korean at the side along with a cartoonized look of the older with his canine showing at one side, which he _accidentally_ drew while waiting for their Microeconomics professor earlier that day.  “Have you decided on what to do this Friday?”

Jaebeom deadpans, his notes now looking a little better than minutes ago.  He instantly tore the piece where there are unorganized words, crumpling it and throwing it inside his bag, since the nearest trashbin at the library is by the door.  Also, he wanted to protect his image and was afraid of some creeps checking the trash and would see those doodles he made because he also put in his name there, so, no, he would save himself from that possible misery (even though the possibility of that happening is close to zero, since, well, who would check out trashes right now?).

“Earth to Lim JAEBEOM?”  Jinyoung snaps his fingers in front of Jaebeom’s face and the slightly older man finally acknowledges his best friend’s presence, who immediately rolls his eyes at the obvious disregard Jaebeom had shown him.

“Are you trying to avoid answering my question or you just didn’t hear me?”  Jinyoung says as he empties his bag, placing three large books on top of the table, while fixing the specs laying heavily against the bridge of his nose.

“I heard you, but I choose not to answer that silly question.”

“What’s so silly about it?  I just asked what your plan is, it can be anything, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be about that _party_ your long-term crush invited you on, right?”  Jaebeom throws Jinyoung a glare, but the younger just disregards it blatantly, sipping on his coffee while browsing on the book he would want to touch upon first.

“Will you please shut up?  I don’t need the whole university to know, alright?”  Jaebeom then opens one of his books and started browsing through it since he would have an exam in about 2 hours for that subject.

Mark and Jaebeom didn’t even see each other in their own dorm room since Monday when Mark invited him on that victory party and it’s already Wednesday, so he is not certain if the offer is still up or not, though Jaebeom is still unsure if going to that party is a good idea at all.

“Whatever.”  Jinyoung snorts before looking at his best friend.  “I was just about to tell you that if you decide to go, I will be glad to accompany you.”  Jaebeom shoots his head up, did Jinyoung just—

“What did you say?”

“You heard me…”  Jinyoung rolls his eyes again and Jaebeom cannot help but return it.

“Why would you want to go there?  You hate parties as much as I hate them, if I remember it correctly?”

“Well… I still do, but… it’s your last semester as a college student while I will be a senior next year, and we haven’t been to a _single_ party, Jaebeom.  I feel so left out… Let’s try it just this once?  In fact, it won’t be too much of a disadvantage to you because Mark will definitely be there, right?  Just think of it as me trying to salvage your boring love life…”  Jaebeom just pinches the bridge of his nose to avoid snapping at Jinyoung because of how many times he had brought up the whole crush thing he has on the older guy.

“Yeah, he will be there with a bunch of girls looming over him, sure.”  Jaebeom didn’t want to sound bitter, but it came out bitter and frustrated anyway.

“Don’t be so negative, hyung—”  Jinyoung says and Jaebeom just sighs.

“Then what should I think about?  That I can magically convert him?  He has been straight, since he was born, Jinyoung…”  He runs a hand through his hair and bites his lower lip in frustration, “Bambam tried sniffing and asking around, being the loud gay guy he is—”  Jinyoung snorts at that but didn’t interrupt the older, “He hasn’t dated guys, or didn’t even show any interest in boys, at all.  He only dated girls.  And Jackson also confirmed that no one in the basketball team is gay, at least… Not him and Mark…”  Jaebeom says frustratingly as he downs the rest of his drink.  Jinyoung looks at him apologetically, and he knows that the younger brunette is trying to think of what to say to make him feel better.

“Well… Then at least try be close to him?  You guys are roommates but you never hang out! Just think of it as a way to get to know him more?  See how he’s like in parties?”

“He’s in the _basketball_ team if you had forgotten, he is overly popular, and I don’t belong to his circle… I am just a boring Business student who busies himself in animal centers taking care of cats and dogs during summer…”

“You do know that Jackson is my roommate, right?  He is in the basketball team too, and I am close to him—”

“Wang is close to _everyone,_ Jinyoung-ah.”  Jaebeom drops his pen before pressing the heel of his palms over his eyes.  “Just forget it, Nyoung-ie.  I won’t attend the party.  If you want to, you can go though.  For sure Bambam would be delighted to go.”

Jinyoung didn’t respond to him after that, just looking at his best friend with pity, and why in hell did his best friend fell for a straight, jock guy.

 

~*~

 

Jaebeom knows that the moment he had seen the LA-born three years ago at the hallway of their university, with his hair was still blonde back then, but his smile is already blinding like the sun rays, white set of teeth with sharp canines that look extremely adorable on him, those sharp cheekbones, long eyelashes, slightly crooked nose, and big, yet still cute ears, he is extremely attracted, like a dumbass.  He remembers staring at him as the blond walks in front of him in his varsity jacket, jersey shorts, and basketball shoes, with a ball clutched in his arm as the older players congratulated him for entering the basketball team as a freshman.

Jaebeom had heard about him even before seeing him in person.  He just knows that an _American_ had joined the basketball team and that he’s super attractive, and was told that he was the ace player of his team in High School.  What sparked some more intriguing news is that the boy didn’t apply for a scholarship as an athlete, even though he was more than qualified to avail it, so rumours sparked that he must be rich and can afford to go to college without any support from scholarships.

Well, when Jaebeom had finally seen the object of most of the female (and a handful of males too) students’ fantasies, he is embarrassed to admit that he immediately became just like one of them, though he was on the quieter side, admiring the boy from afar, mostly _too far,_ when he is watching their games from the top floor of the bleachers, cheering quietly whenever he scores points after points.  Mark is not that tall, Jaebeom assumes that he’s even taller by a few centimeters, so he was the appointed pointguard of the team, but it doesn’t seem to be a disadvantage even if he was faced by the tallest members of their team, or another team.

Mark is fast, agile, and observant.  He doesn’t miss any opportunity to shoot the ball even though it’s way beyond the three-point line, turning backwards because he is sure that it’s not going to miss.  He holds the record of the best shooter in the district, and he is a major threat in other universities’ success in making it to the regional finals.

Despite being overly good in sports, Mark is also not bad with studies.  He’s exceptional in Math, as Sungjin had shared with him, his high school classmate who apparently shares some math classes with Mark.  The boy is a little lazy on theoretical subjects though, but hasn’t failed a single class, not that his friend know of.

These facts about Mark that he had been hearing from people and from his friends despite him not asking, didn’t really help his growing crush for the slightly older boy.  He rarely develops crushes on someone he doesn’t know personally, so this is bothering him so much.  It’s also not because Jaebeom is confused of his sexuality—he already knows that he’s gay way, way back, and his parents are aware of it.  He even had a boyfriend back in High School, though that didn’t really last long since it wasn’t that serious any way.

Maybe it’s also a blessing that Jaebeom doesn’t really have a lot of friends, especially here.  Being a freshman, some people stick around, especially those who came from the same high school.  Unfortunately, his best friend is a year younger than him, so he needs to wait for another year so that they can be in the same school again.

He does hang out with some of his classmates from most of his classes, like Brian, Seungyoon, his roommate, and Sungjin, but none of them are close to be called and trusted to disclose his dirty little secret.  He would casually ask about Mark, well, mostly about the games, and Sungjin, since he claims that he is close to Mark (though they barely talk), would dish out the information that he knows and would tell almost everyone that he’s close to the team’s new ace player.

Freshman year had passed by in a blur of assignments, projects, and it’s about time for Jinyoung to enter the university.  It wasn’t perfect, Jaebeom have had some mini-breakdowns at one point or another, especially when some professors would throw in some unreasonable deadlines on their projects while finals are on-going, or some deadly and costly activities that they’re required to do to be able to pass the subject.  Good thing he did pass all of them with flying colors, as expected off of a scholar like him.

This is something that Jaebeom wouldn’t admit boldly, but seeing Mark with his _girlfriends_ over the last year made his heart crack, just a little.  Well, that’s technically a lie—his heart shattered.  It shatters every time the reality that Mark is a straight-as-fuck dude slaps him in the face rather harshly. Whenever he sees girls flirting with him and he flirts back, he even catches him making out with the cheerleader one time after classes, good thing they haven’t seen him.  He can’t even ask anyone if he, by any chance, is interested in boys, even just a little, but he shuts his mouth, choosing to just wallow in his own misery as he tries not to think about forgetting this one sided attraction he has for the star player of their basketball team.

Jinyoung finally enters university and they managed to be roommates at the beginning of the new school year. He was happy that he gets to be with his best friend, the only person who knows about this whole Mark thing.  Jinyoung would always tell him to try and give it a shot and try to at least be close to Mark, but Jaebeom would always brush him off.  Telling him that it’s impossible to be close to him since he already has a lot of friends and he doesn’t need more.  Jinyoung also suggested him to try and be attracted to someone else, go out on dates with other guys.

Jaebeom is aware of some looks that are being thrown at him by some ladies and guys, his cool and chic attitude and his kind of dark aura made him look mysterious, add the fact that he is quiet and doesn’t have a lot of friends.  Despite his slight popularity among some students, he didn’t find any one of them attractive for him.  No one had surpassed Mark so far.  Sure, he appreciates other guys who are good looking and maybe smart too, but his standards have been raised too far high now, blame his undying crush for Mark Tuan.

 

When the first semester of his second year ended, Jaebeom received the most horrible news in his life.

Well, that’s what he wanted to call _that happening_ back then, because just when he’s attempting to tamp down his still growing feelings for the basketball team’s ace player, things like this happened.

Maybe he’s cursed, or that he was an enemy of an empire back then, or a fallen angel, a traitor, he doesn’t know.

Jaebeom remembers staring at the bulletin board at the hallway of the dorm house he was living in before the semester ends to see the roommate reassignments for the next semester.

_Room 77_

_Mark Tuan_

_Lim Jaebeom_

He never imagined this happening, _ever._ His emotions are over the place, he was shocked, terrified even, but, deep inside, a tiny pang of happiness and giddiness is there, well, he is still Jaebeom’s crush for at least a year, nothing changed a thing, so, these feelings, despite how small they are, are still there.

“So, we’ll be roommates, huh?”  He hears a familiar voice next to him, along with a wonderful smell of some musky perfume and something citrusy hidden beneath it.  Jaebeom doesn’t want to move or even tilt his head, afraid that Mark would see his expression, and that he would see how much he’s blushing with just the older boy’s mere presence.

“I think so, yeah.”  Jaebeom was surprised his voice didn’t shake as much as his body is.  He never had the chance to talk to Mark before, not ever, so this encounter, on top of the whole new room reassignments thing, didn’t help his feels and nerves to calm down.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you before the break?  When are you transferring your things?”  Mark says again, and at Jaebeom’s peripheral view, he can see the older shifting so that he’s facing him.

However, one thought came across his mind, how the hell did Mark know who he is?  This is the first time that they met, right?  How come the jock knows that _he_ is his future roommate?

“Hey, Jaebeom-ssi, are you okay?”

Jaebeom doesn’t know how to answer that, he doesn’t even know what kind of expression he’s wearing at the moment, he just looks down at his shoes, his hands balled into fists beneath his sweater paws.

“Y-yeah, hyung.”  He mutters before he can even take it back.  _Shit shit shit shit._

Jaebeom was forced to look up and finally meet Mark’s face when he heard the elder’s signature, high-pitched laughter.  It is the first time he had heard and seen it up close, but he can’t seem to tear his gaze away either, though, he is certain that his face will be as red as a ripe tomato.

“I wasn’t expecting you to call me hyung, considering that we are both seniors—” Mark fixes his warm gaze on him before fixing the loose fringe that fell on his forehead.

_God, Jaebeom wants to die._

“But I guess you’re an early 94 liner?”  Mark asks and Jaebeom just nods dumbly, and Mark smiles again.

“H-how did you know… who I am though?”  Jaebeom cannot help but ask, and he is not sure if it’s just a product of his imagination, but Mark looks a little taken aback, shy even, since he captures his bottom lip between his teeth before switching his gaze from his eyes to the floor, but it was just a fleeting moment, maybe a few seconds, because the jock wore his signature toothy smile again, looking confident as ever.

“You might not remember, but we are at the same university tour more than two years ago, and I see you with Sungjin sometimes, he also talked about you being one of his good friends since High School…”

Shock would be an understatement to describe what Jaebeom was feeling then, _Mark Tuan was with him at the orientation and university tour?  Why didn’t he notice him back then?_

“Oh… I can’t remember seeing you there, sorry…”  Jaebeom scratches his head awkwardly, not knowing how to proceed and what to say, he is still shocked, surprised, overwhelmed because his crush knows who he is.  His overly popular crush knows that he actually _exists_ since they started university.

“It’s alright!  I got to get going though, I might move my stuff this Friday, let me know if you need any help with yours.”  The older boy says before smiling widely at Jaebeom and patting his shoulder, which made his heart jump out of his chest, all he did was nod dumbly once again—until he sees Mark waving at him before half-walking, half-running at the hallway, gaze fixated at that direction for what feels like hours, but just a few minutes, Jaebeom’s head swimming in so many thoughts of his crush, their first interaction, the shoulder pat, the wonderful up close smile, those overly white teeth, his scent, his crush knowing who he is, him calling his crush _hyung_ despite them being the same age in Korea…

Jaebeom fell in love even more, which is not really surprising.

Jaebeom didn’t end up asking Mark for help to move his stuff though, which he did a day before Mark did.  He sees the older at Friday though so that he can hand him their keys, which the older took immediately, since he said he still has practice at late afternoon.

The break passed by in a blur of meeting old friends, visiting his parents, driving to the beach with them, as well as playing with his cats back at home, Jaebeom almost forgot about the thought of having his crush as his roommate.

Until, well, he actually goes back to school and to the dorms to settle his things a day before the school starts.

When Jaebeom comes inside his dorm room, he sees the older already there, half-lying on the worn-out leather couch in their small living room, looking so _cute_ in just a red hoodie and a pair of basketball shorts.  The older looks up when he comes in, realizing that he is also wearing a red hoodie as well but black jeans, and he blushes at the thought.

“You’re here.”  The jock mutters and Jaebeom gives him a small smile, taking off his shoes before placing it neatly on his shoe rack before walking slowly towards the older.

Mark stands up as soon as he sees Jaebeom approaching, and Jaebeom can feel his erratic heartbeat when Mark flashes him a toothy smile before raising his hand for a shake.

“We haven’t properly introduced ourselves when we first met.”  He giggles before he continues, “I’m Mark Tuan, I am not sure if you know who I am, but I am part of the basketball team and I am a Statistics major.  How about you?”

“Lim Jaebeom.  I major in Business Management, hyung.”  Jaebeom reaches for Mark’s hand tentatively, and when they finally got to touch, tingles crawled up from where they’re connect up to the tips of his ears.  The older squeezed his hand before shaking it promptly, his smile never leaving his face.  Jaebeom lets go first, awkwardly fidgeting with the straps of his bag when he hears the older speaks up again.

“So, you would really keep the hyung then?  I am not really strict when it comes to that since I had spent majority of my life in LA—so I don’t mind you just calling me Mark-yah or Mark-ssi…”

“I… I feel more comfortable if I call you hyung, actually.”  Jaebeom looks at him, and Mark nods, understanding.

They didn’t talk for the rest of the night because Jaebeom holed himself up in his room trying to organize his stuff.  He did hear Mark get out of the room at one point as well, and when he is finally settled and got ready to sleep, he still didn’t hear him come back.  Not that it matters, because Jaebeom was so sleepy already so he just let himself fall asleep, his last thoughts are of the older.

 

The second semester passed by pretty quickly, and Mark and Jaebeom rarely talked, mainly because of their studies and their very conflicting schedules.  However, they would meet in the university grounds or at the café near the school at some point, and during those times, he had met Mark’s best friend, Jackson, who’s also a freshie back then just like his best friend and coincidentally happened to be Jinyoung’s new roommate.  Jinyoung never had the chance to introduce the guy to him personally because the younger is also trying to settle in and Jackson is also part of the basketball team, so he was pretty busy as well.

Jackson is a loud, obnoxious guy, completely different from how Mark is, which confused him as to why they’re best friends in the first place.  He is popular despite being new to the team and the class, mainly because of his outgoing (overly) personality, which made it easy to be friends or close to him, whether you’re in the same major or not.  Jinyoung surprisingly was in good terms with the younger athlete, considering that Jinyoung is not really a fan of anything loud or annoying—he guesses that the Hongkong-native just has his own, unique way of making people love him.

During those two years that they were roommates, Jaebeom can only admire his hyung silently, even though they’re just a few walls apart, he feels like the older is so distant, too far for him to reach and achieve.  He remembers seeing the girls that Mark brings at the dorm by secret, different faces that he sees on a Saturday or Monday morning, making his heart plunge at the bottom of his stomach again and again.

Jaebeom was positive that his feelings will never be reciprocated the way he wanted to, so he chose to be distant with the older, well, it’s not really hard though, considering that they’re in a totally different major and fields, but, deep inside him, Jaebeom can’t help but feel so unlucky.  He just hopes that he can forget about his feelings soon, so he buries himself at his books and school works, and after a few more months before the start of the new semester, he got a job at the café a few streets away from their dorms, so that he can earn extra money, and, at the same time, keep himself occupied and distracted from no other than his roommate.

Jinyoung would often tell him that what he’s doing is not the most ideal—since hiding his feelings and choosing to avoid Mark would only agitate his feelings, and he will just get hurt over and over.  It was almost a year since they become roommates when Jinyoung told him that he would help him to at least be close with Mark, and try to talk him out of his feelings, but Jaebeom continuously refuses, saying that it’s not necessary, and that he will live and forget this feelings soon enough, maybe just give it some more time.

Another year or so had passed, and Jaebeom, obviously, failed to do that part _big time_.

 

~*~

 

“Have you thought about tonight, Jaebeom-ah?”  Mark suddenly appears at their mini-kitchen and Jaebeom is thankful that he hasn’t grabbed his mug of steaming coffee yet because he is sure that his hold would slip and he would burn himself, and, moreover, create mess that will be a bitch to clean on the counter and the floor.

“Ahhh…”  He mumbles before finally lifting the mug to his lips as he sees the older rummaging through the fridge, most likely finding his energy and sport drinks to bring at school.  “I… I haven’t really—”

“Jackson told me that Jinyoung said you two will come?  But I am not really sure if that’s true since Jackson is capable of spurting bullshit—” He giggles in high pitched voice while he peels a banana open, “So I wanted to check with you directly.”  Mark takes a big bite of his banana, and Jaebeom, once again, wanted to ask the heavens what has he done wrong in his past (or maybe present) life because the older looks at him just as he engulfs almost half of the fruit in one go.

_Holy shit._

Jaebeom tries not to stare at how Mark’s plump, red lips is enclosed around the offending piece of fruit, how he bites it off and began chewing, the lump showing at the side of his cheek, and he totally didn’t imagine the older having _something else_ inside his mouth, maybe something longer and a little thicker than what he just ate.

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck.  Jaebeom, for crying out loud—_

“Jaebeom?”

“Yeah?”  The younger responds almost immediately, snapping out of his reverie to find Mark’s curious gaze at him, and he felt his face heat up a thousand degrees, because, _fuck,_ Mark just caught him staring at how he’s eating that damn banana, what should he do?

“You were just staring, I was thinking maybe you had fallen asleep or something?”  Mark finishes the rest of his banana, taking two, smaller bites before throwing the skin off at the bin, and Jaebeom turns his back on the older, not wanting him to see the obvious blush on his face, before dropping his half-full mug on the sink and started washing it, even though, honestly, he still wanted to drink it, but if it would allow him not to look at the jock’s face any longer, then he could endure it.

“I’m sorry, hyung, maybe I still am sleepy.  I… I will text you later if I would come or not since I have a group project after my last class at 6…”  He mumbles, maybe a little soft but he’s glad that Mark hums in acknowledgement, he hears some shuffling of paper on marble and light scraping of a chair against their tiled floor, before an overwhelming scent that is so Mark engulfs him once again, and he notices that Mark was right behind him, grabbing his lunch box from the top closet, and Jaebeom can feel the elder’s jacket brushing against his thin shirt from behind, before Mark lands a hand on top of his shoulder, squeezing lightly and Jaebeom has to compose himself so that he wouldn’t let out a guttural moan at the exquisite feeling.

“Alright, though I would really want you to be there, so I hope you can make it, Jaebeom.  It doesn’t really matter if you’re a little late.”  Mark pulls away, the place where his hand left still burning and scalding Jaebeom’s skin, and his mind seemed to have captured a full HD video of Mark Tuan eating a banana.  Jaebeom hates his life sometimes.

“I’ll get going, though, see you later!”  Mark waves goodbye from the living room after grabbing his bag and running towards the door, leaving Jaebeom to his own thoughts, some innocent, but mostly, not so much.

 

~*~

 

_This is a bad idea._

Jaebeom had thought about this the moment he was asked by his best friend to dress up for the party tonight, while they take the bus going to Jackson’s house since none of them have any cars at the dorms, and once he had entered the loud jock’s gigantic house dowtown—where Drake is blasting in every corner of the house, students partying and chugging their beers from red cups.

_Totally a bad idea._

“We can still back out, Jinyoungie, if you want to.”  The older of the two had noticed the younger flinch a little at the sound of the blaring music, but he was surprised that the younger just shook his head before grabbing his arm and leading him further inside.

“I can handle this, and you could too, so, let’s grab some drinks, shall we?”  The younger smiles that cheeky smile of his and he cannot help but find it very suspicious.  Park Jinyoung has something up his sleeves, that he’s sure of, so he just raised an eyebrow at the younger, about to deliver a remark but he was cut off when he felt a body slamming against his, along with hands patting his back until he felt like he’s about to cough his lungs out.

“Waaaahh Lim Jaebeom!!!!  I didn’t expect you to be here!!  I am happy you were able to come!”  Taecyeon, the basketball team’s captain and also a senior like him, but a whole lot taller and bigger, greeted him and Jinyoung, pulling both of them into a furious hug and laughing strangely—so they’re pretty sure that the huge jock is already drunk even before the party is on full-blast.

“You also brought your cute best friend over!!!!  I hope you two had fun!  Mark is actually waiting for the two you, he is by the kitchen if you want to see him!”  He claps his hands again before patting both of their heads.  “I’ll see you cute boys around!!!”  Taecyeon waves off before slamming his drunk body on some girls who are lounging by the living room, and the girls let out high-pitched and whiny voices, before hugging the jock, and both boys just rolled their eyes on them.

“I know you’re up to something, Jinyoungie, so why don’t you spill it right now?”  Jaebeom murmurs as the two of them walks towards the kitchen—which they don’t really know where so they need to ask a few students around (Jinyoung).

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, hyung, please stop being so suspicious.”  Jinyoung waves a hand in front of him.  “Besides, I really just went here to know how these parties are like, and Jackson would’ve bugged me to death and even jump on my bed every single morning if I don’t agree to come here and not bring you along.”

“What?  Why does he want you to bring me along that much?”

“Oh!  Mark-hyung!”  Jinyoung smiles when he sees Mark by the kitchen counter, talking to some girl (whom he recognized later as his classmate from his Acting class) and Jaebeom tries not to get affected by how Mark’s face light up upon seeing him and his best friend.

“Hey!  Jinyoung-ah, Jaebeom-ah.  I’m glad you both came.”  He grins, before shooting a playful smile at Jaebeom. “You didn’t text me, is this supposed to be a surprise?”

Jaebeom blushed when the older was suddenly in front of him, his smile fond and his cheeks a little red, maybe because of alcohol.  He extends a red cup with beer towards him, and Jaebeom didn’t really plan on drinking this early, but takes it any way.

“I was quite busy, sorry, hyung.”

“It’s okay, you’re here, so all is well.”  He laughs before drinking from his cup, and Jaebeom blushes once again, hiding his face from the red cup that would match the color of his face so that the older won’t see him.

Jackson suddenly appears with two girls on either side of him, and Jinyoung just shakes his head, saying that those girls with him are freshies and are part of the acting club, and the girls bowed over to Jinyoung as a respect.

“Don’t mess with them.”  Jinyoung says rather harshly and Jackson feigned offence.

“We’re just drinking and hanging out, Jinyoungie.  Why would I even?”  The girls left Jackson all of a sudden when Yugyeom suddenly appeared from the stairs and started dancing to the beat of Chris Brown’s Teeth at the living room, and Jackson shouted at the younger jock to stop stealing the girls from him.

The party went on smoothly, and Jaebeom was having fun conversing with people, and he has no idea how much he had drunk already.  He even lost Jinyoung somewhere because Bambam had dragged him away from them, his eyebrows wiggling before pouting between him and Mark, who’s now busy talking to who he recognizes as one of the cheerleaders (Mimi or something was the name, he can’t remember), but not once leaving Jaebeom’s side.

Which made Jaebeom equally relieved and nervous at the same time.  He is happy that Mark doesn’t leave him alone, knowing his adversity in events like this, however, he is also not used to Mark giving him this kind of attention, especially at parties, not even at the junior party all of them was required to go, or at the retreat before the senior year had started, and he hates the way his heart flutters every time Mark grabs his arm or something while he’s talking to someone, or how the older would say no to some girls who would invite him out at the pool to swim, saying that he needs to keep him company.

“You don’t need to watch over me, hyung, I’ll be fine here.  I can look for Jinyoung or maybe Bambam or Youngjae—”

“I invited you here, so you are my responsibility… I need to make sure you’re having fun and that you’re not alone.”  Mark winks at him and Jaebeom wants to melt into the ground.  “I’ll get some more snacks and drinks, can you stay here?”  Jaebeom just nods dumbly, his cheeks colouring once more and Mark fights the urge to pinch the younger boy’s cheeks, so he resorts to patting Jaebeom’s shoulder instead.

 

~*~

 

Mark and Jaebeom tried to talk more during the course of the night, but they can’t even start a topic because Mark would always be side tracked by other boys and girls trying to strike another conversation with him, and Jaebeom feels a little disappointed, especially when the cheerleader didn’t leave Mark’s side even after they talked, and even after Mark had got more drinks, now for the three of them.  He also doesn’t like the way the girl would lean so, _so_ close to Mark’s face while they talk, making him want to just walk out and go home.

He downs the rest of his drink when the girl successfully kissed Mark on the cheek, dropping it rather loudly against the marble kitchen counter, telling himself that this is enough, and he’s not sure if he can take any more of this blatant flirting.

“There you are!!!  I can’t believe you guys didn’t even move from where you’re at earlier today!”  Jackson finds them once again, and Jaebeom is thankful because that seemed to make the girl embarrassed, especially when Jackson squeezed himself between her and Mark, pushing the older towards him, and he froze when Mark wraps a solid arm around his shoulders, probably to keep him steady, but it doesn’t fail to make his heart burst like fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

“Come on, you two, let’s play spin the bottle and truth or dare, since you two seems to be enjoying the silence so much.”  Jackson suddenly grabs Mark’s and Jaebeom’s arm before any one of them can protest.

“Hey!  Can I join too????!!!”  They heard the girl from earlier shouted in her high-pitched voice, and Jackson said yes, which made Jaebeom’s blood boil, especially when the girl giggled heartily and followed them towards one of the rooms upstairs.

He isn’t surprised that he finds Jinyoung, Youngjae, Yugyeom, Bambam, and a couple of other girls  already in the room, forming a circle and all of them applauded and cheered when they came in.

Jaebeom looks at his best friend, and he seems to be in a good mood, and he was sitting next to his crush from the book club, a cute girl named Jisoo, while Bambam gets the chance to be next to his crush, Yugyeom, who is now clapping non-stop because of their arrival.  Youngjae seems to be more interested in just observing what’s happening, especially when him, Mark, Jackson, and the cheerleader came in.

They all agreed to make a huge circle, assigning the youngest boys to move the double bed towards the wall to have more space.  They mostly kept their original positions, just them adding up to the crowd.  He sees the cheerleader, whom he finds out eventually bears a name Momo, tried to sit between him and Mark, but Mark talks to her sweetly that she can take the other side.  Jaebeom didn’t really mind it much, but he meets eyes with Jinyoung at the other side of the circle, and the younger gives him a nod and slight raise of brow, which he just shakes his head to, silently telling Jinyoung that they can talk about it later.

“Okay, I don’t want to talk about the basics of this game much since I know that you are aware of how this works, but let me just discuss the _twist_ in this spin the bottle game,”  Jackson starts off with an evil smirk on his face, and Jaebeom, for some reason, got really, _really_ nervous—he tried to look at his friends, and he finds Jinyoung as calm as always, even with his crush next to him, and he can see Bambam overreacting, gasping and placing both of his hands on his mouth, while looking at Yugyeom, who seemed to be dumbstruck with what the smaller boy was doing right next to him. 

“Well, it’s still basically a truth or dare, if the bottle points at you, you need to either answer a truth, or do a dare, though, here’s the twist—” Jackson grabs a bucket full of ice and two bottles of vodka and raised it for everyone to see. “You can also skip it doing any of those if you would agree to drink a shot of this, and, when I say _shot,”_ He grabs a tall glass on the side as well, “A shot of this tall ass glass, not the usual shot glass that we use.”  He then lets out a loud, evil laugh, and the rest of the people on the circle cheered, especially Bambam and Yugyeom, while Mark remains quiet, Momo now has a hand on his thigh and drawing small circles, not that Jaebeom was staring at it (he really was), he just happened to catch a glimpse when he looks at Youngjae on the other side of the circle.

Jackson then officially started the game by dancing some weird gestures with his arm and hand using the empty bottle like how a bartender does tricks with the drinks that they make, which brought out laughter from all the people in the room.  He then sits down next to Jinyoung and Chaeyoung, who’s also part of the cheerleading group, before placing the empty bottle in the middle.

“Are you guys ready?”  He shouts once again, and the rest of the people cheered, with the exception of Jaebeom, maybe.

The first spin had his heart racing for some weird reasons, not knowing what exactly to expect if ever it points at him, not that he is friends with everyone in the circle, so he’s sure that he’ll just get asked by the ones he know, and that doesn’t make him less nervous, seriously.

The bottle finally pointed at Jackson, who just made some weird, gagging sounds, muttering and shouting as to why he was the first one.  He answered “dare” immediately though, and Mark told him to do some martial art tricks on the bed, which he did gladly.  Some of the girls mentioned that the dare was too light, but Mark says that it’s the first one so they can go easy.

After about six more spins, neither Jaebeom nor Mark had done any truth or dares yet—and Jaebeom just can’t stop praying that it will never land on his side.  The bottle pointed at Jinyoung on the third time, and he answers truth, and before he can ask the younger something that would make him embarrassed, Bambam beats him to it and asked straightforwardly, “Do you like Jisoo-noona?”

Jinyoung was obviously taken aback, and the girl next to him blushed madly, but she was looking up to Jinyoung with her beautiful eyes.  Jaebeom smiled when Jinyoung nods meekly—and the two both turned ecstatically silent, while the rest were howling in joy, Jackson was found clapping like a seal (because he was selected again on the second turn and mentioned that he will just drink the vodka, which made everyone cheer loudly), obviously already tipsy—while Mark just laughs along with everyone, with Momo now wrapping her arm around Mark’s waist.

The bottle was also pointed at Bambam at one point, and when Youngjae was about to say something (maybe plan on having him confess about his undying crush for one of the basketball team’s centers), Bambam immediately asked to have a shot of the vodka, so he’s now fast asleep on his crush’s lap, and Jaebeom didn’t fail to notice that Yugyeom seems to not mind, even having a hand brush his friend’s hair, especially the one that got stuck on his forehead.

When Jackson started spinning the bottle once again, now for the seventh time, he felt a hand on his shoulder.  “You okay?  Not bored yet?”  Mark says, smiling up to him a little sheepishly.  The elder’s face is slightly red, maybe because of the alcohol that they consumed before being dragged by Jackson, and he also noticed that Momo is not clinging on to him anymore, _oh._

“I’m okay, and no, not really bored, this is actually really fun.”  The bottle was pointed at Jisoo, and one of the cheerleaders immediately shouted to kiss Jinyoung after the girl murmured a soft “Dare”.  Jinyoung’s ears are flaming red right now, especially when the girl leaned up to press a small kiss on his cheek.  He clapped and cheered for his friend, hoping that Jinyoung would finally ask Jisoo out on a date after this.

On the eighth turn, the bottle finally landed on Mark.  Jackson looks ecstatic—he even jumps from his seat before eyeing Jaebeom with a sly smile on his face.  _Oh._

“Truth or dare, Mark-hyung?”  He wiggles his eyebrows, before looking at Jaebeom again, winking at him twice while waiting for Mark to answer.

_Why the hell is he looking at me like that?_

“I would like a shot, please, thank you.”  Mark says calmly, and Jackson lets out a disappointed sigh, Momo also whimpered at his side too, while Jaebeom just looks at Mark.

“You sure, hyung?  That’s a little high, and you drank quite a lot already before we came up—”

“Don’t worry about me, Jaebeom-ah.  It’s ‘kay.”  He mutters, waiting for the still sulking Jackson to pour vodka on the tall glass.

“What a party pooper you are, _hyung._ I hope you’re not thinking of hiding _for—”_

“Shut the fuck up and go back to where you’re sitting, Jackson.”  Mark giggles, covering Jackson’s mouth after he takes the glass from his hand.  Mark looks at Momo quickly, the cheerleader smiling up at him, before he glances at Jaebeom, drinking the vodka straight up, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt after.  Jaebeom definitely didn’t notice how Mark’s long neck was showcased right in front of him, as well as how his Adam’s apple bobs whenever he swallows the alcohol.

_Fuck, Jaebeom, get your shit together and stop looking._

He managed to look away, luckily, and the game resumed. 

 

Mark managed to drink one more glass after a few more spins, making Jaebeom wonder why he is always skipping and not attempting to do at least one truth or dare.  Also, Jaebeom is so surprised that he hasn’t been pointed by the bottle yet.  Some of the cheerleaders had already left, and Bambam sobered up a bit and also managed to do little dares Jinyoung asked off of him, as well as Yugyeom, who was asked to hug Bambam, which made both of the younger boys blush, but quickly went back to being their joyous selves as the game continues.

“Ohhh, we don’t have enough vodka to fill a glass…”  Jackson says with a mocking pout and tone, setting the bottles aside before continuing, “That means, we cannot skip any truth of dares anymore!  This is so excitiiiiiiiiiiing!”  Jackson was swaying on his feet, he didn’t really drink a lot more but he was laughing and overreacting physically at any dare or confession (especially when Sana from the cheerleading team kissed Youngjae as a dare, the younger boy flaming red, but did kiss the girl back when the dare was thrown right back at him).  Jinyoung and Jisoo left the actual game, but they’re still inside the room, talking by the bed, while the rest continued their thing.

“I really want this bottle to finally be pointed at Lim Jaebeom-hyung though…”  He sing-songed while he plays with the bottle, and Jaebeom cannot help but feel nervous all over again.

“I really hope not though…”  Jaebeom says, and Jackson just stares at him with that sly smirk once again.

“Let’s see about that, Lim.”  Jackson spins the bottle furiously and a lot of determination, and Jaebeom cannot help but hold his breath, he should still be exempted, right?  He had been lucky for the past few turns, this should just be the same, right?

Looks like Jaebeom’s lucky streak has totally come to an end.

“YES!!! YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”  Jackson jumps up and down, still wobbling a little in place, and he can see Bambam and Yugyeom’s mischievous eyes looking at him.

He is so fucking screwed.

“OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY.  This is gonna be so damn exciting, TRUTH OR DARE, Jaebeom-hyung?”  Jackson was right in front of him, and Jaebeom seems to be thinking, what is an easier way out?  He kind of had a thinking that Jackson knows about his feelings for Mark, so either way, he knows that he’ll be embarrassed in front of his hyung, but what would make it less embarrassing though?  Or at least something that would not make him _reveal_ what he truly feels about Mark?

“Dare.”  He blurts out without thinking, did he make the right decision? 

Jackson’s eyes was filled with mirth after he had given his answer, and Jaebeom is sure that he did the wrong thing.  The loud jock then switched his gaze to the man next to him. 

Mark looks a little stunned too, but he tried his best to act calm, because he knows what his best friend is up to, that’s the main reason why he was skipping truth or dare all this time.

“Okay, I dare you to give Mark-hyung a body shot.”

Jaebeom felt like he’s going to die.  For real this time.

Mark was kind of expecting this kind of dare from no other than his best friend, but he was still surprised at the boldness of it.

Jaebeom looks like he’s about to pass out when he tries to get up from his seat, the girls around them are eye-ing them suspiciously, especially Momo, who’s now muttering questions towards Jackson (because she tried to coax the boy to have him do dares like touching or kissing Mark, but Jackson would always give her something different).

“Hey, you don’t really have to do this if you don’t—”

“No, Mark-hyung.  This is a dare and a _game_ , so you need to go do it, _Jaebeom-hyung._ ”  Jackson interrupted Mark while he speaks, before grabbing the bottle of vodka from the bucket with the ice now totally melted.

Jaebeom was still speechless, and he can see his best friend now focusing on what’s happening on the circle, and he doesn’t miss the knowing smirk on the younger’s face.

He wanted to scratch it off of his face and maybe snap Jackson’s neck, if only he’s not too nervous and almost panicking right now.

“So, Mark-hyung, is it okay if we do it on your collarbone?  It seems to be a good place… don’t you think?”  Jackson wiggles his eyebrows once more and Mark was so close to punching him, to be honest.  “Jaebeom-hyung, you know how this works right?  You just drink the alcohol from Mark’s, and your job is done!  Easy, right?”

_Easy?  Really?  Fuck you you crazy, loud bastard.  Fuck this._

“I—I guess.”  He says, now sitting in front of Mark who’s also red in the face, seeming cool and nonchalant about the fact that Jaebeom is going to lick the alcohol on his body, while Jaebeom is trying his best not to show that his whole body is shaking and his heart beat is a little too fast for his liking.

“Alright.  Let’s just get this done and over with, then.”  Mark mutters before lifting his shirt, and Jaebeom was not ready to see Mark’s naked upper half, though he had seen it quite a few times in the dorm whenever he catches the older going out of the shower, but… somehow, this time, it feels _different._ There is slight sheen of sweat covering Mark’s body, his neck is also flushed red, and Jaebeom was still kneeling in front of the older boy, taking in his features, his mind conjuring images of him running his hands over Mark’s abs, his pecs, and hips, to take it in and map it to his memory.  He would gladly run his lips and tongue over his skin too, he bets that the older would taste good, so _so_ good—

“Hey!  Lim!”  Jackson snaps his fingers in front of him and Jaebeom shakes his head, making his head throb a little, “You still here?  I am asking if you’re ready?  I’m about to pour vodka on Mark-hyung, you need to drink it right away so that it won’t spill!”  He says, and Jaebeom just looks at him, before looking at his hyung, who’s now leaning backwards on his elbows, craning his neck to the side to reveal his flushed neck, and prominent collarbones.

_I pray to the Gods above to help me survive this night._

“Go ahead.”  He murmurs, and Jackson squeals again, before muttering a “this is so freaking dope!” under his breath, while the other people in their circle are just looking at them, Momo is now pouting and shooting daggers on Jaebeom’s back, but Jaebeom doesn’t give them any attention, which is now zeroed to the liquid that is slowly being poured on the curve between Mark’s collarbone and shoulder.

_It’s so fucking sexy, fuck._

Mark was looking at him with half-lidded eyes, maybe because of alcohol?  He isn’t sure.  Once Jackson is done, he tells Jaebeom to _dig in_ (he really want to punch Jackson’s big mouth sometimes), and Mark darts his tongue out to wet his lips, and Jaebeom can feel himself hardening when Mark bites his lower lip.

_God fucking damnit how the hell will I even get out of this shit alive?_

“Faster, HYUNG!!”  He hears Jinyoung shouting from where he’s sitting on the bed next to Jisoo, and Jaebeom gulps— _I need to do this fast so that I can get out of this shit faster too, yes, Jaebeom, just fucking do it._

So he did.  He leans forward, eyes gazing on the alcohol on Mark’s body, doing his very best to avoid looking at Mark’s face or body.  Because of Mark’s position, Jaebeom was left with no choice but to find leverage on Mark’s thighs, so he presses both of his palms there, before he is in between the jock’s legs, the heat of Mark’s body radiating off of him towards Jaebeom’s clothed body, and Jaebeom feels a shudder running down his spine as he presses his lips on Mark’s skin, a spot just a shy away from where the alcohol is, and he’s not sure if he’s just imagining it, but he felt the elder’s thighs tensing a bit, but there is something more overwhelming right now than that, to be honest.

Mark’s smells extremely delightful, his lemon body wash still there, as if he just came out of the shower, and is hidden beneath his manly perfume.  Jaebeom goes weak, _extremely weak,_ before he finally, _finally_ darts his tongue out to lap on the vodka on the curve of Mark’s collarbone.  He drinks in the alcohol slowly, like a dog enjoying his water, playing with it a little, using his lips to suck the rest until he reaches Mark’s skin. 

The younger pulls back a little, before pressing a little harder against Mark’s thighs, and he is barely aware of how Mark’s hands are now holding on to his shoulders, the elder’s right hand slowly creeping up to hold his nape as Jaebeom laves his tongue over Mark’s now overheated skin, making sure he won’t miss any drop of that addicting taste of alcohol on the jock’s skin.

Whether it’s the alcohol that is making him drunk in haze or not, Jaebeom doesn’t care.  He doesn’t care as he opens his mouth a little wider, before digging his overly white, sharp teeth against Mark’s collarbone, biting on the sensitive flesh with fervor, his other hand now holding on to Mark’s narrow, but strong shoulder, pushing the older closer to him as he withdraws his teeth from Mark’s skin, before running his tongue over the red, bruised skin, and, even before he can stop himself, he sucks on the bruise, _hard,_ hard enough that he feels his cock jump, _literally,_ and there is a dull ringing in his ears that he didn’t feel Mark’s long, slender fingers grabbing on the hairs of his nape, tugging a little too hard as the older moans unabashedly, the feeling of the younger’s mouth against him is fucking electrifying, but Jaebeom doesn’t stop, he continues sucking—running his teeth over the bruise one more time, until the jock mutters two words that made Jaebeom’s world’s axis tilt precariously.

“ _Fuck—Jaebeommie!!”_

_Fuck._

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck._

Jaebeom withdraws his mouth from Mark’s collarbone, before staring hard at the red, bruised mark that, apparently, _he left_ just seconds ago.

He blinks his eyes a few times, his brain short-circuiting, his mind numbing at the realization slowly creeping up on his nerves until it reaches his brain.

He just gave Mark a hickey.

He fucking gave Mark a hickey when it was just supposed to be a body shot.

_People around us had seen it, they fucking saw it, fucking saw me how I devoured Mark’s neck like that._

_I need to get out of here, fast._

Jaebeom immediately gets off of Mark’s lap (which he didn’t eveb realize he was _on_ as well when he started that godforsaken dare), not looking at anyone in the room including his friends, his Mark-hyung, as well as the girls who were all taken aback by what he just did.

_Fuck this._

Jaebeom runs for his dear life out of the dorm, not hearing those who are calling out for him, if there was any.  He can feel his lungs burning, but he doesn’t care, he doesn’t stop running even though he feels the biting cold of early winter on his skin since he forgot to get his coat before leaving, not that he would really have the _care_ to take that at the moment.  He can see his breath condensing over the white lamp on the street as he continues to run, he doesn’t even know where he’s headed, to be honest, he was just running, and he knows that he hasn’t run this much and this fast in his entire life.

Jaebeom finally stops when he feels like he will die of lack of breath, and he slumps on the grassy field he ended up with, his legs about to snap off of his body, his lungs on fire and head spinning, so he took large, heavy, and rattling breaths to compose himself.

Once he got his breathing back to normal—a strange feeling started to bubble at his stomach, and he was hit by a huge wave of nausea—he almost didn’t make it to the side of the park with knee-high bushes before he’s pulling his guts out, the dinner he had taken before the party as well as the mixed alcohol that he took for the last 4 hours or so are now being dumped against the poor plants.

Once the boy deemed that he’s not feeling nauseous anymore and the urge to puke his whole stomach out is inexistent, he wipes his mouth with his handkerchief, before sitting on the grass once again, holding his aching head with one hand while the other is still holding the piece of cloth against his mouth.

_What the hell has he done?_

Jaebeom doesn’t know what took over him, maybe the alcohol, his obvious desire towards the older boy, maybe both, he doesn’t know, he is sure though that Mark would hate him to death, he should expect the worst already like Mark moving out of their shared dorm room, telling the administrators that a gay pervert is living with him and he’s uncomfortable, he would curse Jaebeom to death, and they would not see each other again, or rather, they would still see each other but the older will definitely treat him like a ghost, would avoid him like a plague, and maybe the rest of his friends too.

He wants to cry, but he is too tired to even let a few tears out.  He just wanted his bed, to sleep, and wake up to the thought of any of this not happening, that he didn’t come to the party.

_It really was no good to come to that party after all._

Jaebeom decided not to go to the dorms that night, but to go home to Ilsan on a taxi.  He knows that it will definitely cost him a week of his allowance, but he won’t be able to bear seeing Mark after what he did, and he’s sure that Mark would not want to see him either.  He would want to stay there for the weekend, and, it might really hurt, but at least he won’t see Mark leaving right with his very own eyes, no, he would rather see his dorm room empty with his things, and their kitchen and bathroom without his personal items.

Jaebeom staggered to get to the road, and, having luck for the first time that day, a taxi pulls over and he immediately gets inside, telling the driver his address before slumping his head on the side of the taxi—closing his eyes to try and wash away the pain that he’s feeling, it’s much easier to sleep it off any way.

 

~*~

 

To Jaebeom’s luck, his parents didn’t really ask him that much when he went home that night at almost 4 AM, they just asked him if he was hungry, which he said no, and said that he just wanted to sleep.

He spent the rest of his weekend just sleeping and eating and helping his mom and dad on their family orchard, before he goes back to the dorm on a Sunday evening since he has a morning class on Monday.

He was beyond delighted to not see Mark that night, assuming that he is out or maybe sleeping.  Over the weekend, the older didn’t reach out to him, but he had seen messages mainly from Jinyoung, some from Jackson, Bambam, Youngjae, and even Yugyeom.  He only responded to his best friend saying that he’s fine and that he’s spending the weekend at his parents’ house to think through things.  The younger told him that he needs to see him on Monday, and Jaebeom didn’t respond to that anymore.

Even when him and Jinyoung met that following Monday, they didn’t really bring up what happened that night.  Well, Jinyoung _tried_ to, but the slightly older boy stopped him, saying that he doesn’t really want to talk about it.  That same day, he spotted the basketball team walking out of the gymnasium, and he quickly launches into a run, hoping that the older or even the elder’s best friend had seen him.

He was surprised that the older hasn’t moved out of the dorm back then, or, maybe he would but not in a few days’ time, but he’s certain that he would eventually do it, maybe just finding the right time.

“Mark-hyung was asking how you are…”  Jinyoung asked him Thursday of the same week, and Jaebeom is lucky that he just swallowed his food because he is sure that he would choke on it, “He says he wanted to talk to you, and that you’re avoiding him…”  Jinyoung takes a bit of his sandwich before looking up to the still not moving Jaebeom.  “He doesn’t seem to hate you, hyung, so why don’t you try to talk to him?  Maybe he would tell you something, or that he would tell you it’s not necessary to do what you’re doing—”

“I… I don’t really want to, Jinyoungie…”  Jaebeom chugs a bottle of water at once to calm his nerves, “I am so ashamed of what I did that I can’t even have the courage to face him… I… I’m not ready… I’m not ready to talk and not ready to hear what he’s about to say…”

“Hyung…”

“I have to go, I have a class in ten… I’ll see you around…”  Jaebeom picks up his bag before storming out of the cafeteria, leaving his disappointed best friend behind, who looks to his side to spot Mark, looking at him hopefully, and he just shakes his head before looking at the door of the cafeteria, his eyes rolling at the back of his head.

“Why do I have to have a stupid and numb best friend?”

 

~*~

_Three weeks._

It has been a little over three weeks since that hickey incident with Mark happened, and, as surprising as it sounds, he was able to avoid the older, which, as a starter, is quite impossible, considering that they share a cramped, dorm room, and they have way more mutual friends than before, but, Jaebeom thinks that the Gods might’ve listened to his requests better this time.

Well, we can also say that Jaebeom taking in extra hours at the café where he’s part timing and also going to his parents in Ilsan every weekend can be the real reason why he had managed to not see the jock at the school grounds, or even at their shared room.

Jaebeom makes sure that he goes out of the room at 7:00 AM, just when Mark is about to get up because his classes starts at 8:30—ignoring the curious eyes of the guards both at the dorm house and the school, since they know that there are no classes that early yet, but he doesn’t care at the moment.  He would continue working on his assignments at the library or at the classroom if it’s already open, enjoying his solace while listening to some music.

His extended hours at the café also makes him come home a little over 11:00 PM—and—as he had observed from the older for the last two years that they’re sharing the same space, is already either knocked out by then, or still out partying with the basketball team or the cheerleading club.  So, it’s safe to say that he always comes home to an almost empty dorm—and he goes to his own room quietly, showering a little before drifting off to sleep.

The last three weeks had been tough, especially on his body since he goes home late and gets up early to get out, but it was all worth it.  Anything to avoid speaking with the jock seems acceptable for Jaebeom at this point.

However, during those idle times at the café or the mornings he spends at the library before the classes starts, he cannot help but feel a little sad too.  He hasn’t seen Mark in three weeks, which is the longest _ever,_ of course, with the exception of school breaks, and he cannot help but miss him.  He would subtly ask Jinyoung if he can ask Jackson how Mark is doing, and, Jinyoung seemed to have given up on being sarcastic for the first time in his life, answers him based off of what Jackson mentioned, without his snippy remarks that often comes as a special package.

Jinyoung stopped asking him to meet up with Mark either, maybe understanding his situation and just allow Jaebeom to take his time and come to Mark once he’s ready.  He had seen Jackson a few times too, by accident, _or not,_ he’s not sure, just asking how he’s been, sometimes giving him some strawberry milk too.

Jaebeom would also see some notes on their mini fridge from the older—saying that he has extra food, or that he has extra milk to share, and this is something that Mark does regularly, and Jaebeom feels bad, almost giving up and wanting to just talk to Mark, but his bruised pride and fear of being rejected blatantly is overpowering everything else in his mind, so he chose to stay silent and continue to avoid Mark as long as he can.

 

~*~

 

_[5:00 PM]     Jackson says Mark hyung and him are staying over at Jackson’s house for the night.  You can give your shift to that other part-timer, you’re safe._

Jaebeom sighs in relief when he receives the text from Jinyoung, quickly calling the manager from the café, agreeing to give his shift to Wonpil, the other part timer who wanted to take a few hours from his shift since he was worried about Jaebeom’s health.

_[5:01 PM]  Thank you, Jinyoung-ah.  I better sleep today and go to my parents tomorrow.  I feel so tired._

_[5:05 PM]  I’m sure you are, get home safe and sleep well, hyung._

Jaebeom pocketed his phone and walks a little faster, all the while thinking if he still has ramen left in his personal stash.  He is too tired to drop by the convenience store or cook something that would require more time.

He was so lost in his thoughts when he slots the key on their door knob, so he didn’t really notice that _someone_ is at the dorm.  He happily removes his shoes and coat before stepping inside, only to be welcomed by no other than Mark Tuan himself.

_What the hell is he doing here?  Jinyoung said—_

“Jaebeom-ah?  You’re here!”  Mark calls out for him a little cheerfully from the kitchen and he can’t help but look to the side to find the owner of the voice.

_Gosh, he still looks as handsome as ever._

By the looks of it, the older seems to be cooking (or maybe heating, he’s not sure) something that smells really good, the growling in his stomach almost betraying him, but he immediately turns away—avoiding Mark’s curious stare as he trudges towards his room.

“Jaebeom!”  He can hear Mark’s retreating footsteps and he walks a little faster, about to reach the knob of his own room when—

“ _Jaebeommie, please.”_ Mark calls for him with the edge of desperation laced in his voice.

_Ahhhh dammit!!!_

“Please, Jaebeommi—Jaebeom-ah, wait.  Just—“  Mark continues to talk and the younger feels his presence right behind him, and Jaebeom immediately grabs the knob, turning it to the right so that he can open it, until Mark quickly stops him, grabbing his arm and turning him around, his strong hands gripping his arms tightly but gently at the same time.

“I know that you’ve been… you’ve been avoiding me since that night…”  Jaebeom tried to get out of Mark’s grip on him while looking at the ground, and Mark felt his chest constrict with how much Jaebeom probably hated himself for what he did that night.

“Jaebeom, _please._ Just listen to me, okay?  I’m not going… going to hurt you, I just want to talk, _please…”_ Mark was so tempted to run his hands over the younger’s arms, but he kept them still—waiting for the younger to at least look at him.

“Jaebeom-ah?” Jaebeom felt one of Mark’s fingers gripping his chin, forcing his head up to look him.  “Would you please look at hyung?  Hmm?”

_Oh fuck he didn’t just use that hyung card on me—_

Jaebeom cannot help it, he finally looks up and he was surprised to see Mark smiling brightly at him, and Jaebeom wanted to look away, but the genuine relief in the elder’s eyes made him relax.  Mark’s hands are still clutching his arms as he holds him in place as well as his gaze.

“My parents came over earlier and they brought me tons of food.  I slept early so I wasn’t able to eat them.  I want to share them with you and… maybe… we can talk a bit?  Hmm?”  Mark mutters softly, gently, and it tugs at the strings of Jaebeom’s fragile heart.  Mark looks like he’s coaxing a stray, afraid cat to come closer, assuring him that he just wanted to help.  With how Mark is treating him as well, he is pretty certain that the older may not be mad at him for what he did.

Or maybe the older will poison him because of the embarrassing hickey he left on his neck that night?

_Oh no, Jaebeom, do not overthink this.  This is your chance to apologize, and to talk to him, don’t fuck this up!!_

Mark slowly loosens his hold on Jaebeom’s arms, and Jaebeom felt like he can’t breathe, is he letting him go?  He guesses the older will eventually give up in talking to him or trying to fix whatever misunderstanding they had three weeks ago, which, to be honest, it was just Jaebeom who created those dramas inside his head.  Mark looks okay and even acts nonchalantly—so what the hell is Jaebeom worried so much for? 

Mark sighs and maybe would just try again some other time so he lets go of Jaebeom’s arms with a loud sigh, but he was surprised when Jaebeom takes a hold of his wrist, but not looking at him.  He smiles, taking a hold of Jaebeom’s arm before leading him to the living room.  He gestures for the younger to sit down on the couch, which the brunette immediately complied to.

“I’ll bring the food and the drinks here in a few, just stay there, alright?”  Mark ruffles his hair and Jaebeom just blushes, his gaze following the elder’s movements as he carries the take out boxes from the kitchen and places them on their small coffee table one by one.  He comes back with two soda bottles and chopsticks, before opening the boxes one by one.

“Mom said they bought these from Taiwan, from that store we frequent whenever we visit—” Mark mumbles and Jaebeom’s stomach grumbled at the sight of the delectable Chinese food feast being laid in front of him.  “I had to heat them up though because it was with them for hours, and they need to jump in to the train to Busan for their conference, though they’ll be back in a few days here in Seoul.” Mark continues to talk as Jaebeom just stared at how he mixes the noodles with the sauce and his stomach growls once more, and with Mark’s cute chuckle, he knows the older had heard him.

“Okay, this one’s for you.”  Mark hands over the box after stirring it thoroughly and putting some beef strips on top, “That’s the restaurant’s best seller, you’re gonna love it.”  Mark smiles again and Jaebeom wanted to say no, because it’s too much, but he is tired, sleepy, and hungry, so he just took them.

“W-what are you going to eat, hyung?”  Jaebeom says and Mark looks up to him from where he’s sitting on the floor, something flickers in his eyes that Jaebeom cannot decipher, but it was gone real quick as the older lifted a box of fried rice with dumplings on top.

“I have this with me, unless you want to try this too?”

“No-no, it’s okay.  Thi-this is already too much, I may not be able to finish this.”  Jaebeom says as he stirs the noodles again for good measure.

“I highly doubt that—Beom-ah.  Go ahead and eat it now though before it gets cold.”  Mark says as he swallows a spoonful of his own rice meal in his mouth.  Jaebeom takes a huge bite of his braised noodles, and his widened in shock on how the flavors bursted inside his mouth.

“Told yah.”  Mark just winks at him and Jaebeom didn’t even notice it because he was already taking another huge bite, the sauce smearing his lips.  Mark continues to eat but immediately stops when he sees the mess in the younger’s face.  He dabs Jaebeom’s face with a tissue, wiping the residue away and Jaebeom just stares at him, and before he knows it, Mark had already handed one of the soda bottles to him.

“You might choke, drink up.”

Jaebeom rolls his eyes and Mark laughs wildly, unrestrained, and Jaebeom cannot help but blush.  He always loves how Mark laugh sounds, it’s music to his ears, better than all the R&B songs that he has on his iPod.  He hides his blush by drinking his soda, before resuming on stuffing his face with the best Chinese braised noodles he ever tasted in his life.

Soon the take out boxes and soda bottles they’d been munching and drinking were all empty, and, much to Jaebeom’s surprise, Mark started talking to him about the latest happenings on their games, on his life, about his childhood back in Taiwan and LA, like they’ve been super friends for a very long time.

Jaebeom was also shocked at how easy everything is after that meal and some drinks, Mark had talked more than usual, and he did as well.  He had disclosed about his pets back home and how much he misses them, and Mark would stare at him adoringly, and Jaebeom would feel his face heat up.  He also shares something about his family, saying that he’s an only child, and that his father is actually is his step-father, not his biological Dad, since his real dad had been abusive of his Mom and him.  Mark just looks at him, listening to every word he is saying, and Jaebeom felt weak all over again, but he didn’t stop talking.

The two, young men warmed up to each other, and Jaebeom was beyond grateful for this opportunity to have a conversation with Mark with just about… life.  Their childhood embarrassing experiences, how they ended up to the same uni, their fun moments at uni, about their best friends and how they met them, _everything._

Mark is also known to be a man of a few words, but he had talked a lot today, but it doesn’t make him a bad listener either.  He asks the right questions, comes up with his own conclusions to Jaebeom’s stories, and their conversations went smoother and more comfortable as minutes, or maybe hours, he’s not sure, went by.

“So…”  Mark then mutters after they both shared a good laugh when Jaebeom disclosed a time when he once tried doing sports in elementary, but sucked way too much on it so he didn’t continue.  His classmates would often tell him he looks like the soccer team’s captain, but, the truth is, he won’t even pass the player status.  “I know that you may not want to talk about this but…”  Mark looks at him and Jaebeom freezes, his head automatically lowering at his hyung’s words, _is he really going to bring up that embarrassing night?_

Mark hesitated for a while, but he wants to talk to Jaebeom about this since that night, and he doesn’t know when he can get the chance again, considering the younger has this weird habit of running away and avoiding him, even though they technically share a cramped, dorm room.

“I’m sorry…”

Mark looks at the younger sitting a few inches away from him, he cannot deny that he was surprised that the younger would say this, though he knows that he would, but he just didn’t expect that it would be the first thing that Jaebeom is going to mutter when he initiates the conversation.

“I was…”  Jaebeom clears his throat before clasping his fingers together, fidgeting, his bottom lip trapped between his teeth and head still bowed to avoid looking at the older.  Mark didn’t say anything, he allows Jaebeom to take his own time, he is thankful enough that the younger is finally taking the courage to talk, so that he knows how he would respond later.

“I was carried away… I… don’t know what else to say and I don’t want to lie to you, hyung.”  Mark was taken aback when Jaebeom looks at him, his eyes glassy, unfocused, and _scared._ The way Jaebeom is now clutching his sweatpants tight using his fingers by the thigh, he knows that this is nerve-wracking for the younger.  Should Mark do something to make him feel a little less tense?

“I have no excuse for what I did… I just… I guess… I guess it’s because I really just like you a lot that’s why I….”  Jaebeom gulps the lump in his throat, his brain short-circuiting, he is not even aware of the things he’s saying, but his mouth can’t seem to stop talking, “I did that… I am not proud of it, especially… Especially when I know that you’re not even into boys in the first place and that you even consider me as your friend even though… Even though I… I don’t belong to your circle or even by your side… And we’ve been roommates for two years so… If ever you find out you might… You might be mad at me and… and asked to be moved rooms because…”

“Jaebeom—”

“Because… well… who would want that, right?  A gay guy who likes you and you’re not into boys so you might get scared—”

“Jaebeommie!”  Mark stops the younger’s rambling by grabbing his shoulder and facing him, and Jaebeom stops talking, his mouth a little agape and eyes dilated.  Mark lets the younger catch his breath before lifting one hand to cup his jaw to ground him and to hold his gaze.

“You like me?”

_Oh shit, I said that?_

Jaebeom’s immediate reaction was to bolt out of the couch and run out of the dorm house and go somewhere where he can hide for the rest of his life, so he stands up from his seat.

Or at least, he tried.

Mark immediately pulled him back down on the couch, now holding both of his hands, staring at him with warmth that, unfortunately, the younger cannot see since he’s been looking down all this time.

“Jaebeom…”  Mark whispers, before he slowly holds the younger’s hands, his thumbs rubbing circles against Jaebeom’s knuckles, and Jaebeom looks at their hands, wondering why on Earth is the older doing what he’s doing right now.  Moreover, the older slowly lifts his left hand up—lifting it to his lips before he felt Mark’s plump, soft lips kissing each of his tensed knuckles, and his eyes widened when Mark looks at him—his gaze soft, heartwarming, and it’s making his body feel light and giddy.

“Your hands are so small…”  Mark mutters in daze, and he lifts Jaebeom’s other hand, slipping his fingers out of his tight hold against them before pressing his palms over Jaebeom’s, smiling widely at the size difference of their fingers.  Mark’s long, slender ones against Jaebeom’s shorter, yet slightly chubbier ones.

“They fit perfectly against mine…”  Mark holds the back of his palms before placing soft kisses at the center of his palms, and at the space just above his wrist before intertwining their fingers, the space in between Jaebeom’s fingers being filled by his own.

_What the actual fuck is he talking about?  My fingers?  Hands?  They fit perfectly against mine?  What the f—_

“Why?  They really do fit against mine… I like it...”  Jaebeom was shocked yet again because he just said those thoughts out loud, because of the elder’s response.

“Still?  Why are you talking about those things all of a sudden?”  Jaebeom cannot help but feel lost at this point, what is it that the older wants to say?  He’s confused as fuck.

“I like your hands… and…”  Mark cups his jaw once again before smiling as bright as the sun on a sunrise.  “I like you…”  The older lets out a happy giggle, before burying his nose on Jaebeom’s hand, kissing his knuckles once more.

Jaebeom doesn’t even know what’s happening at the moment.  His brain for sure stopped functioning completely— _did Mark just told him that he likes him?  Like, how?  Why?  When?  Where?_

“I like you... I like you too… Jaebeommie…”  Mark keeps his lips on the back of Jaebeom’s hand as he mutters these words, as he looks up to meet Jaebeom’s confused and questioning eyes.

_This isn’t real._

Jaebeom pulls his hands away from Mark, moving at the other end of the small couch and starts pinching his rosy cheeks before slapping them.

“For sure I am dreaming, none of what just happened is real…”  Jaebeom laughs, sarcastically, while his eyes are closed—his hands pinching his arms or slapping his chest and face, and Mark just looks at him amusedly, his elbows resting against the backrest of the couch while he rests his chin against his palm.

_He is so adorable._

Jaebeom finally stops hurting himself, and he opens his eyes slowly, smiling at the thought that he would wake up on his bed and not in front of his Mark hyung as they both sit on the small couch of their shared, cramped dorm.

When he opens his eyes, he screams ecstatically to find Mark still right in front of him.

“You’re not real… this isn’t real… You didn’t just say—”

“What?  That I like you?”

“What?”

“What, what?”  Mark chuckles, “Is it that _hard_ to believe?”

“Well… yes… because…. I… I… I tho-thought you’re… uhm…”

“Straight??  Mark asks and Jaebeom nods, still unable to meet Mark’s eyes.  “Well… you can say that is true, but…”

Jaebeom looks up to Mark questioningly, “But?”

Mark laughs endearingly, and it didn’t fail to make Jaebeom’s heart turn into a mush.  “I was straight… Until I met you…”

Jaebeom’s eyes widened, this is even more shocking than Mark telling him that he likes him, like, truly.  _I made him gay?  What?  Is it really possible?  Is he honest?  Or is he just saying this because he knows that I like him?  What if he’s just playing with me?  What if he’s lying?  What do I do?  What about his girlfriends?  And his reputation?  How is he going to deal—_

“Jaebeommie…”  Jaebeom stops rambling in his head when Mark grabs both of his jaw firmly, lifting his head up so that he can meet the elder’s eyes, he blinks quite a few times when he sees the softness and a pang of hurt reflected on Mark’s eyes, “I am not playing with you, I’m sorry if you had that thought of me because of the number of girls I rejected and broke up with over the last few years…”  _Oh fuck I was voicing my thoughts out loud AGAIN._

Mark rubbing his thumb against Jaebeom’s cheekbone snaps Jaebeom out of his trance, and he hears the older continue, “I… I can’t say that you made me gay… I don’t feel gay with the others… Just with you… So I can’t say I am gay, but there’s no doubt that I like you… I like you more than just a friend or a cute roommate, that’s for sure…”  Mark rambles, and it’s the first time that Jaebeom hears him like that.  He may be silent, he knows that Mark never stutters whenever he’s around.

“I am feeling kind of nervous about this to be honest… But I really need you to know this… And I am happy that you feel the same way too…”  Mark says, sincerely, but he is not done yet, “And why do you think I keep on skipping the truth or dare back on that night and why Jackson chose _you_ to do the body shot with me instead of Momo?”  Mark looks at him seriously, and Jaebeom’s resolve and doubts crumbled all at once, like a glass falling on a concrete floor, and for the first time since their serious conversation started, he smiles, genuinely, and widely, which Mark cannot help but return.  Mark takes his hand once more, and Jaebeom is confused as to what he wants so he raised an eyebrow.

“You’re too far from me… Come here, Beommie…”  Jaebeom wonders if the older would let the nickname stick, but he did as told, leaning closer to Mark on their couch.

“Not there…”  Mark laughs before patting his thighs, “Here… Come _here…”_ He taps them once again, “I want to be as close to you as possible…”  Mark blushes, and Jaebeom colours too, but he cannot seem to deny Mark, because, deep inside, he also wanted to do that for a very long time.  He stands on shaky knees, before he settles himself on Mark’s skinny, but strong thighs, the elder’s arms wrapping around his waist automatically as he shifts so that he could rest against his hyung’s lap comfortably—their faces inches apart, but the older doesn’t seem to mind, and Jaebeom finds that he doesn’t too.  He awkwardly lifts his hands to Mark’s shoulders, and Mark smiles once again.

“There, _perfect…”_ Mark mumbles before burying his face against Jaebeom’s neck, inhaling his scent and the younger felt a little insecure because he was out for more than 8 hours and he’s not sure how he smells at the moment, but a light brush of Mark’s lips on his neck totally washed those worries away.

“Hyung?”  Jaebeom asks and Mark hums against his neck, “Do you really…”

“Really what?”

“Y-you know?  Like me….”

“I do…”  Mark raised his head to look at Jaebeom, and the younger gets lost in those doe, brown eyes of the jock once again, “I do like you, I am sad that you think I’ll be disgusted or that I don’t like you back… but I really do…”

“Then why didn’t you tell me before?”

“You’re always avoiding me!  What can I do?”  Mark pouts, “And I can ask you the same!  You could’ve just told me sooner, and we could’ve been together for a longer time…”  Mark looks down but kept his arms around the younger, and Jaebeom cannot help but wonder…

“Since when did you like me, hyung?”  Jaebeom asks, and Mark coughs the strain in his voice, his ears now a bright red and Jaebeom giggles before he rubs his fingers against his left ear, which made Mark giggle and shudder.

“I’m sorry….”

“It tickles…. Stop doing that…”  Mark holds Jaebeom closer to him before answering, “Since that day at the orientation.”

“ _SINCE THAT DAY AT THE ORIENTATION?”_ Mark just nods and Jaebeom shakes his head, Mark had feelings for him even before he get to see him.

“Well… Like might’ve been a strong word, but I do appreciate you.  I know that the attraction I was feeling was different from the typical ones you feel when you appreciate the same sex’s appearance…”  He bites his lower lip, “But I think I truly did like you when we started rooming together that I figured out what I truly feel about you…”

Jaebeom is speechless, so it was way back then?  He felt stupid for thinking that it was impossible for the older boy to like him as well.

“How about you?  When did it start?”  Mark asks, and Jaebeom blushes even more, before he answers a very quiet _since I saw you get accepted at the basketball team after your practice game..._

“Ahhhhhwww you’re so adorable my Jaebeommie!!”  Mark pinches and squishes Jaebeom’s cheeks together before laughing his signature high pitched laugh, and Jaebeom tolerates him, before he remembers something that he wanted to tell Mark about.

“I… I am sorry though, hyung… for running away and avoiding you… I was just scared and uncertain…”  Jaebeom says, and Mark hugs him once more.

“It doesn’t matter now… I have you…”  He pulls Jaebeom closer and leans his forehead against his chest, feeling the younger’s erratic heartbeat and inhaling his musky scent.

“You always so smell good…”  Mark rubs his nose against Jaebeom’s shirt and the younger whines.

“Hyung…”

“Why?  You’re embarrassed?”  Mark lifts his head and bites his lower lip once more, he loves it when the younger is flustered because of him, “Don’t be, because I will do this every day!”  Mark then presses a kiss on both Jaebeom’s cheeks loudly, and the younger thinks that his face is on fire, but he is also so, so happy, he never thought that he would be in this position, _ever._ Him sitting on Mark’s lap, Mark liking him, his every dream turning into a reality.

Jaebeom slowly reached out to grab the elder’s nape, just to press their foreheads together, and smiles, the warmth he is feeling in his chest was comforting him beyond imagination—and he hopes that Mark feels the same. 

Mark actually thought the younger is going to kiss him when he grabs his nape, but he was surprised that Jaebeom just leaned against his forehead and closing his eyes, and Mark did the same as he savor the feeling of Jaebeom’s breath hitting his with every breath he takes.

When Jaebeom opens his eyes, Mark is smiling at him lovingly, before rubbing his nose against Jaebeom’s, giving him an eskimo kiss.

“Hey!!!”

“What?”  Mark does it again, now holding Jaebeom’s face with both of his hands as they continue to eskimo kiss.

“Hyung!  Stop it!”  Jaebeom is blushing so hard, but he can’t seem to remove his hand from Mark’s nape, so they just stayed like that for a few more seconds, just staring at each other’s eyes, eyes that are full of love and affection.

“So, since we like each other, it’s safe to say that we’re dating now, right, Jaebeommie?”  Mark asks confidently, and Jaebeom would normally flip out at the directness of the elder’s statement, but, he just feels so, so good right now that he can’t help but nod furiously.

“Yes, yes, _hyung,_ I would love that… For us to date…”

Mark smiles unabashedly, before his hold against Jaebeom’s jaw tightened a little, his face moving closer to Jaebeom’s and pressing a quick kiss on his lips.

The kiss was soft, sweet, chaste, _innocent_ , and Jaebeom’s heart fluttered and rattled erratically on his ribcage, he holds Mark’s wrist while the other is still on his nape, a little loose now when Mark presses a little harder against him, kissing his bottom lip before slipping his upper lip in between the younger’s, and nipping on his bottom lip gently.

“I’ve always wanted to do that…”  Mark says first when they pull away.

“Me too…”  Jaebeom feels like his face is going to split and break because of how wide he is smiling, and Mark thinks that he is the same, before he reaches to remove the strands of hair on Jaebeom’s forehead, leaning up to kiss him there as well, which never failed to let a flower blossom in the younger’s heart.

The warmth spreading through Jaebeom’s face down to the tips of his fingers and toes, wanting time to stop so that he can cherish these moments forever.  There are wide smiles on both of their faces as they both giggled when their eyes met once again.  Jaebeom was the one to lean forward this time, both of his hands on Mark’s nape, pushing him closer to his and their lips are barely touching when they heard the front door being opened.

What the actual—

“Jaebeom-hyung, Mark-hyung, let’s all go out for dinner, Jinyoung-ie is alrea—woah!”  Jackson stops halfway in his statement, looking at his two hyungs making out on the couch, before he erupted.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH FINALLY YOU TWO HAD MADE UP AND YOU GUYS WERE ABOUT TO KISS RIGHT OH MY GOD JINYOUNGIIIIIEEE LOOOOOOOOOK!!”  The overzealous boy screamed on top of his lungs, and they see Jinyoung walking inside the room.  A shock was written on Jaebeom’s best friend at first before it dissipates to a fond, yet teasing smirk.  Jaebeom suddenly remembers how the younger had betrayed him just a few hours ago, but he guess that it was for the better, after all.

“We are actually full, Jackson, Jinyoung, you guys go ahead without us.”  Mark looks from where he’s hiding from Jaebeom’s chest, and the two laughed at their excuse.

“Right, because sucking each other’s mouths would make you full, _right.”_

“I suggest that you shut the fuck up right now Jackson and get out, _please_.”  Mark muttered angrily and Jinyoung was the one who waved good bye this time, but not after leaving one snide remark.

“Jaebeom-hyung, now you can _finally_ make use of the lube and condom that you stored in your bedside table for 2 years.”

Jaebeom wanted to get up from Mark’s lap, but the door was already shut, and Mark brings his attention back to him.

“Don’t mind him…”  Mark kisses Jaebeom’s nose before nuzzling his cheek, “He wasn’t lying anyway…”  He giggles and Jaebeom punches his chest.

“HYUNG!”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about this if it’s so cliché and the ending sucks hahaha. It’s the best that I can do hahahaha! Feel free to share your thoughts, :)))))))))))))))


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